• To schedule an appointment: Call 361-576-3651 extension 2918. Donors may also make an appointment at the Victoria Donor Room, 1109 Sam Houston Drive. Donors must show identification before undergoing the donation process.

• Anyone 16-years-old, weighing 120 pounds with a parental consent form or anyone at least 17 years of age or older, who weighs 110 pounds, is eligible.

The Rev. Michael Lyons, of Ganado's Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church had three browsers open on his computer in the wee hours of Thursday morning, trying to piece together what led to the devastation of a town of nearly 3,000 people.

Lyons called West his home from from 1973 to 1988. His mother, Georgia Lyons, passed away there in December 2011.

"The fertilizer plant - I remember smelling it," he said.

And Mayor Tommy Muska, back then, was just a high school classmate.

Thursday, Lyons held a Mass at a Ganado nursing home where he encouraged residents to remember those affected by both the Boston bombings and the explosion in West, reciting Palm 138:3.

It reads, "I cried out and you answered and you strengthened my spirit," Lyons said.

"That's the first thing. God is always with us. Jesus is always with us. If we forget that, then we are truly hopeless," he said.

Others, meanwhile, were helping out by gathering whatever basic necessities they can to tote to the town in their cars.

Christina Cook, owner of All About the Dress, is accepting clothing, shoes, gift cards, bedding and toiletries for those affected by the blast.

She met her friend Andrea Jones, of West, at a Mrs. Texas International Pageant about a year ago. The apartment Jones shares with her son was leveled.